Mars

By Alec D

What was Mars named after? Mars was named after the Roman God of War. This was also

mimicking the Greeks as they named the planet Ares.

Mars's CrustMars's crust is 30 miles thick. The crust is made out of a

volcanic rock called basalt. Basalt is also in the crust of the Earth and the Earth's moon. Also some of the rocks

on Mars are made of andesite. Andesite is similar to basalt but contains more silica which is a compound of

oxygen and silicon.

Crust

Mars's MantleThe mantle of Mars is similar to Earth's mantle which is made up of

peridotite. Peridotite is made up of silicon, iron, oxygen, and magnesium. The most abundant mineral in it peridotite is olivine. The main source of heat in Mars is radioactive decay which is the

breakup of the nuclei elements like uranium, potassium, or thorium. Because of this radioactive heating the mantle of mars is

about 2,700 degrees F.

Mantle

Mars's CoreMars's core is made of iron, nickel, and sulfur. It's probably

between 900 and 1,200 miles big. The core of Mars is solid unlike Earth's which is partially melted. Scientists think it is

solid because Mars doesn't have a significant magnetic field. Though there are some rocks that have been formed due to a strong magnetic field. That may mean long ago the core was

once molten like ours.

Core

Mars is the fourth planet in the Solar System.It is a terrestrial planet. Mars is about 141,620,000

miles (or 1.5 AU) from the sun.

Mars

1.5 AU

Mars's perhelion distance form the sun is 204.52 M km. It's aphelion distance is 246.28 M km.

This is the Mars Symbol

Now that I've got the message out of the way please continue to the next page...

Mars rotates about 1.2 Earth days. But it Orbits about a year longer than Earth. 686.980 Earth

days longer to be exact. Mars's diameter is also 6,800 km across.

Mars

vs.

Earth!

In size...

Mars's diameter is 6,800 km. How ever Earth is not completely round. It's diameter is 12,713 km from north to south; but 12,756 km east to west.

It's a very marginal difference, yet either way Earth still wins.

Earth Wins!

In gravity...

Because there is little mass on Mars the gravitational pull of Mars isn't strong. It is 62% less strong than on earth. Think of it this way; if you were to stand on Mars, you'd weigh 62%

less than on Earth.

Earth Wins!

In mass...

The mass of mars is 6.4191 × 10 tons. Earth is 10 times that size. Earth still holds much more

mass than Mars.

23

Earth Wins!

Temperature

Mars is definitely colder than Earth. It's average temperature is -80 degrees F. It's lowest

temperature is -195 degrees F. It's highest temperature is 70 degrees F.

Mars's Atmosphere

Mars's atmosphere is 100 times less dense than Earth's. However, it still has weather. In fact sometimes the storms blow throughout the

entire planet.

Other Facts

1. The sunset on Mars looks like it creates a blue glow because of the tiny dust particles in the

atmosphere.

2. Mars's moon Phobos orbits Mars Every seven hours.

3. A Mars day is pretty close to ours. It's 24 hours and 37 minutes.

4. Scientists believe there might have been water on Mars.

5. Spectacular weather like dust storms happen on Mars.

6. The diameter of Phobos is about 17 miles.

7. The diameter of Deimos is about 9 miles.

8. Mars is about 4.6 billion years old.

9. Mars might have once had life because it has the key elements to life.

10. Rovers are Mars Explorers. We do not yet have technology to go there ourselves.

I give credit to Nasa.gov because of borrowed

pictures.